130 vegetarian italian recipes

Polenta Toscana with rosemary and toasted walnuts sauteed in olive oil, stirred into creamy polenta. Serve it soft or cool it and slice into crostini. A simple Tuscan vegetarian side or appetizer.

Pesto Toscano made with fresh kale, garlic, and olive oil instead of traditional basil. A robust Tuscan pesto with just 4 ingredients, no nuts, and no cheese required.

A minimalist Italian pizza bianca with thin, dimpled dough brushed with garlic-infused olive oil and fresh chopped tomatoes, baked until the crust is shatteringly crisp. Vegetarian and just 4 ingredients.

Pomodori secchi imbottiti: sun-dried tomato "sandwiches" drizzled with garlic and red pepper-infused olive oil. A simple Italian antipasto with intense flavor.

Pasta arrabbiata with dried red chilies, six cloves of garlic, and tomato passata in olive oil. A spicy, stripped-down Italian classic with just seven ingredients.

Italian roast onions (cipolle arrositite) baked whole in their skins with olive oil until soft and golden. Three ingredients, hands-off, and versatile as a side or antipasto.

Tangy Italian antipasto spread packed with artichoke hearts, two kinds of olives, mushrooms, and a zesty vinegar-olive oil dressing. Make it ahead - it's better the next day.

A bright Italian-style vegetable sauce with three sweet bell peppers, zucchini, tomatoes, and garlic, simmered in stock and tossed with pasta. Vegetarian, low-fat, ready in about 30 minutes.

Fettunta Toscana is Tuscan grilled bread rubbed with raw garlic and topped with fresh tomatoes, basil, and olive oil. The original Italian bruschetta, simple and seasonal.

Italian rice and endive soup with fresh tomatoes, carrots, and basil. A light vegetarian meal ready in 45 minutes, simmered in vegetable stock with curly endive for a pleasantly bitter depth.

Risotto is an Italian rice dish. It is made by briefly sautéing the rice in olive oil or butter, then adding a little bit of stock, stirring almost constantly until the rice absorbs the stock, then adding a bit more stock, stirring, adding, stirring, adding until it’s done. It usually takes between 20 and 30 minutes of stirring. When it’s done, the rice is cooked through and bound in a wonderful creamy sauce that is made as the starch leaches out of the rice grains and combines with the stock.

This tantalizing pesto sauce full of flavor is perfect for soups or with pasta to make a main dish.

Warm brown rice salad with sauteed celery, shallots, tarragon, cashews, and alfalfa sprouts dressed in cider vinegar. A quick vegetarian side served at room temperature.

Linguine primavera with zucchini, yellow squash, and red bell pepper in a chunky tomato-wine sauce topped with fresh basil and sliced olives.

Italian no-cook tomato cucumber summer salad with red onion, basil, parsley, and a touch of red pepper flakes. Italian-style topping for bruschetta or tossed cold with pasta.

Italian chocolate nut cookies (mostaccioli) are dense, spiced cocoa cookies with chopped almonds and raisins on whole wheat flour. A traditional Calabrian holiday cookie with deep chocolate-clove flavor.